The Last Day of Kawdor
by Jet556
Summary: The young Evabon Balor is transported back in time to the town of Kawdor on its last day before its volcanic destruction. Is there a reason why he was sent back to this apocalyptic day in Third Earth's history? And if so then why?
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome everyone. The first and second chapter were both written today and the third is on the way. Lets get on with the story! Enjoy and review!**

**A Red Star**

Night. The time when moon and stars shine across the sky! This night a red star that had not been seen any previous nights shined above the Valley of the Tombs.

Upon a grassy hill stood Gard and Zuvowang. Lying on the hill were Balor and Brigid. They all looked up at the star

"Our grandfather told Procyon, Thomeheb and me about this when I was a lad!" Gard pointed at the star. A millennium of life and he saw it. It was truly there in the heavens before his good eye. "He told us that the star would rip your spirit from your body and take you back to another time."

"Yes, my mother told me the same thing!" Zuvowang's red eyes looked up at the red star. He wasn't dreaming. He really was seeing this! "I've lived so long only hearing of this thing and yet there it is!" Zuvowang and started to tremble. He walked forward a few feet as if he was in a trance and then stopped. "I must go to bed! If I'm lucky it might be me! I have made mistakes in my lifetime. If it is me then maybe I can prevent those mistakes." And with that Zuvowang walked back to his quarters.

Gard began to nod. "Yes, yes." He then began to walk back to his own quarters. If it were he then just maybe it would send him back to save his wife whom he had loved and missed dearly.

This left Balor and Brigid on the hill! Balor with the love in his heart for Brigid, Brigid with her love in her heart for Balor. They both looked up at the Red Star. It was red like Zuvowang and Brigid's eyes.

Then Brigid stood up. Balor looked at her. There was a look of fear on her face. "There is something nightmarish about it! This star burns like a fire! From fire comes smoke and darkness! The earth itself will shake!"

"Have you been hanging around that poet woman again?" Balor shook his head and lied back down. "Go if you want, Brigid, but I want to stay here and look at the star until morning!"

Brigid let out an annoyed sigh and stomped a little foot. "Shamans!" And with that Brigid stormed away.

Balor shook his head and kept looking up at the Red Star with his sapphire eyes. Two hours passed and Balor started to breath quickly! His heart started to beat equally as quickly! He felt something pulling at him and in an instant of extreme cold and dark, Balor lost consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

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**Where?**

Balor regained consciousness like one waking from a nightmare. Shivering, sweating and breathing heavily he quickly looked around.

He was not on the hill anymore. Now, Balor was sitting in a beautiful grove of trees. Fruit trees! Balor jumped up to see what kind of fruit. When he saw what kind, Balor stuck out his tongue in disgust. Evilo! Balor hated this fruit! How his stepfather Niro and surprisingly his blood father Pwyll liked this fruit was beyond him!

Balor then climbed to the top of the tree to see where he was. On his left, a mountain with a bit of its top missing that looked as oppressive as thunder! On his right, a friendly looking seaside town!

Balor started to look back and forth between the mountain and the town. Along the slopes of the mountain were groves of those disgusting evilo trees. In the town were large houses.

Balor began to tap his chin with a finger. Decisions, decisions! Which to choose? Climbing a mountain whose slopes have those disgusting evilo trees on them or a nice walk into town to learn where he was.

This decision was too easy.

Town!

Balor jumped down from the tree he was in and quickly left the grove. Where ever it was he was at this was a nice place, but why did he have to end up in an evilo grove?

Balor looked up at the sun. Bright and hot! It was summer after all. But why was it so quiet? Where were the animals? Even during the heat of the summer day he should have heard something.

Balor didn't think that much about it. He just jumped over a small stream that had dried up and continued towards the town. There must have not been much rain in a while if the stream was all dried up.

Once Balor got to the town he saw that it was an Evabon settlement. On the standard at the front of the town was a hippocamp. Balor stared for a few seconds as he realized where he was. He had been told that the town of Kawdor's insignia was a hippocamp.

He was in Kawdor!

Kawdor? If this was Kawdor then that meant the mountain was really the volcano Mount Dunkan!

It was busy in Kawdor. People were buying stuff from open shops, some of them very rushed and busy. At the sight of those shops, Balor walked towards one of shops that moved more slowly. In one of the busy shops, Balor heard someone say: "What do you mean the sword broke? Are you calling my brother-in-law a bad blacksmith?" Better to stay away from that shop!

As Balor walked towards one of the less busy shops he looked around him. He saw adults, children, teenagers all of different skin colors but no one like him. He didn't see any gray-skins but no one seemed to notice him.

When he reached a shop with large jars Balor found himself being greeted by the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper was a middle aged red Evabon. His beard made him look older than he probably was but beards could do that. "Ah, one of old Malkolm's grandchildren, eh? What can Makbeth do for ya?" The shopkeeper then took a closer look at Balor. "Say, I don't recognize you. Are you from out of town? From one of the villages I'd wager! Been brought here to meet your grandfather for the first time, have you? You've got to be what? Six? Seven?"

"Eight, actually."

"Eight. Hmm." The shopkeeper, Makbeth, looked at a jar labeled evilos. "Want some?" Balor shook his head. Makbeth started to scratch his stomach as he thought. He then noticed the scar on Balor's arm. "That's quite the scar you've got there, lad."

Balor laughed. "You should see the ones on my back!"

Makbeth nodded. "Scars on your back, huh?" Makbeth walked away to a room in the back of his shop and came back a few seconds later with a red vest in Balor's size. "I've got a grandson your age, lad. I asked Banquo the tailor to make one for my grandson but he made three like he always does. Whenever you ask for something from Banquo he triples it!" Makbeth handed the vest to Balor.

Balor put the vest on him and looked at his reflection in a nearby barrel of water. Just a vest and a loincloth… He guessed some from other races would call him a civilized barbarian. Balor then looked at Makbeth. "Thanks but I've got nothing to pay you with."

Makbeth burst into laughter that would make Zuvowang seem not as loud. "I'm not asking for any stones, lad. After all random acts of kindness make the world go round!" At that moment, another red Evabon, young and with a walrus-like mustache holding a meat cleaver walked over from the shop next door and started to clean the cleaver over the jars. "Makduff, what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm cleaning my cleaver, brother." Makduff just continued cleaning the cleaver. He had no consideration about Makbeth's things.

"Over my grain? Over my dried fruit! Over my evilo?" Once Makbeth brought up evilo, Balor stuck out his tongue in disgust. "No you don't, little brother! Clean your cleaver in your own shop!"

Balor left the brothers to their argument. He passed Makduff's butcher shop and came to a tavern where Evabon men were eating, drinking or playing instruments. He then passed and went over to another shop and another. There were children in both shops. A boy looking at tolacs and a girl looking at bracelets! Nothing that interested him…

He then came to a bakery. Hungry, Balor started to look at the bread in the bakery. He stuck out a hand only to have it grabbed by the baker. "Any stones, little master of the world?" There was a sarcastic tone to the baker's voice that Balor didn't like. Quickly, Balor checked the pockets of his vest to see if there was anything in them. Nothing. "No, stones?" The baker then looked at the scar on Balor's right arm. "Ah. Here is something to keep you from stealing again." The baker took a knife and stuck the point of the blade into the lightning bolt-shaped scar. Balor cried out in pain as the Baker removed the blade and threw it aside. "Try it again and I'll put two knives in that scar, understand?" Balor nodded and walked away, with black blood seeping from the scar.

Balor walked past shops selling honey, eggs and dates. He didn't even want to look. His arm hurt and he wanted the pain to start. He then passed some more shops selling grapes, garlic and onions. Balor eyed the grapes hungrily. He was hungry but wasn't going to risk getting a blade stuck in his scar again.

"People of Kawdor!" Balor looked over to see black Evabon man standing above a crowd. "I Menteith have come to ask for aid! For centuries Thundera has taken more and more of our land! Join me and we will take back our lands and drive Thundera into the ground! Eradicate it from Third Earth! Thundera must fall!"

Balor shook his head. Thundera would fall but not by Evabon hands.


	3. Chapter 3

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"**Taimid ata ar ti bas salute tu!"**

Balor stared at some fruit on a stand. He then stared at his arm and the blood seeping from the scar. He wouldn't risk it.

Walking away from the fruit stand, Balor came to a large pool of water where many Evabon were. Some were washing themselves, some swimming, some playing games, some just hanging around. Balor looked at his arm and then at the Evabon who were washing themselves…

He smiled and walked over to the water and started to clean his scar. Gard had told him that if scars were not cleaned after being reopened then they would end up becoming… unpleasant. Better to clean this scar and prevent that!

"Hey!" Balor looked to see an armed guard running towards him. "What do you think you're doing dirtying the water with your blood? Going to waste a shaman's time with getting your blood out of the water?" Balor walked away from the pool and once more walked away.

Eventually Balor came to a Hall of Heroes. Here statues of Evabon heroes stood. Many came here to pay respect to the heroes. Some of the heroes were long dead and some were still alive.

First Balor walked over to a statue of Kaithness. Kaithness had been born into the Korinth clan, in its capital. According to the legend, Kaithness' uncle Fleance, the Chieftain, feared being killed by Kaithness and so sent his nephew on a journey to the island of Kolkhis to obtain an artifact known as the Stone of Dreams. Many Evabon went with Kaithness, one of them Alkaeus. They eventually found the Stone and returned to find Fleance having died from a tree falling on top of him.

The next statue was Alkaeus. The statue like all of the statues, were life-sized and Alkaeus' statue was twelve feet tall. He was a hulking Evabon. His fingers were square, his muscles square, his jaw square, the top of his head was flat his shoulders were squared off. Balor had never seen someone who reminded him so much of a specific shape. Alkaeus had only been a criminal because he had killed children in self-defense. In self-defense… but he had still killed children. And so it was that he had been sentenced to six years as a gladiator. Balor recognized the shoulder guards and cestus, it seemed that one shoulder guard was lost to time. The statue also had a plumed helmet upon its head and a tunic on its torso. A fully dressed Evabon… Not something that was usually come across but it happened.

Balor continued walking. He looked at the statues of Siward, Hekate and Bianka. Balor stopped to look at Hekate, Master of Beauty and Love. She must have been an ancestor of Brigid!

He then left the Hall of Heroes. He wasn't sure where he was going. If he knew where Kawdor was in his time them maybe he could find his way around.

As Balor walked along a street he started to hear something. Footsteps. A lot of them! Like an army marching!

He turned to see what the source of the noise was and saw Evabon men chained together in a line. At the front of the line was an unchained man carrying a banner. On the banner were words.

"Taimid ata ar ti bas salute tu!"

Balor's eyes widened. They were gladiators being taken to the arena! These men were criminals!


	4. Chapter 4

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**Fear**

Gladiators. Criminals forced to fight one another until they had served their time. Evabon who lived in cities and towns found it to be highly entertaining to watch them fight. Balor didn't see anything entertaining about it but coming from a village why would he?

Balor followed the gladiators to the arena. He thought if he were to see a fight then maybe he'd understand why they were found so entertaining.

As Balor followed the gladiators he saw a great crowd of men and women at the front of the arena. They were all cheering. Balor stopped in his tracks to look at the crowd. There weren't any children in the crowd. Why was that?

Once the gladiators were inside the arena, the crowd followed them inside. Balor followed only to have a red guard grab him by the shoulder. Balor looked up at the guard. The guard shook his head.

"Sorry, son, but no children allowed." The guard looked at Balor's arm. "Malkolm will have my job if I don't keep ever one of his grandchildren out. Just think of it, me Seyton, without a job." Seyton looked at the scar of Balor's arm. "That's quite the scar you've got there, son." Seyton shook his head. "A child can't go around with a scar like that." Seyton removed a bracer on his right arm and put it on Balor's right arm to cover the lightning bolt-shaped scar. "It is big, a child wearing an adult's bracer… but at least it will cover your scar." Balor touched the leather bracer. It felt cool against his skin. "Now run along and find something to do!"

As Balor walked away he heard some old women talking. He stopped to listen. Their voices were filled with worry.

"The streams have all dried up!" Balor shook his head. The streams just needed water. It was summer sometimes it would rain until autumn.

"All of the wild beasts have fled! And the vermin? Where are they? And our animals: tolacs, mounts all are afraid." Balor's eyes widened. Wild beasts fled? Where did they go? Where were the vermin? Why were their animals so scared?

Balor looked up at Mount Dunkan. The volcano looked peaceful but there was something evil about it. It looked oppressive like thunder!

"Beasts? My dear sister, that is nothing! The water in the sea boils! It would be death to jump into that water! The ground shakes! The ground speaks! Our shaman, my husband knows of this and ever since this morning he's been looking worse and worse. It is like he's dying!"

"Oh, it is the end of the world! The end is near! It's coming! Our hearts will join the thousands!"

At that moment, Balor walked closer to the old women. "Excuse me… Can you tell me where the archives are?"

"Why? Is an eavesdropper like you trying to escape the end by hiding in the archives?" The old woman pointed a bony finger. "They are that way but they will not be of any of help." Balor bowed his head and left the old women to their talk. "A little thief, seeking to steal from the archives while Gratiano is at the arena. He will die when the end comes. When the day is over there will be nothing left."

Balor continued on his way. His eyes weren't on where he was going but on Mount Dunkan. Was there some sort of ancient demon trapped in the volcano? Was it escaping? When it did escape would the volcano erupt?

Finally Balor reached the archives. Time to find answers about that mountain of fear!


	5. Chapter 5

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**Looking for Answers**

Balor ran into the archives. The place seemed to be entirely empty. In the middle of the hall was a great pool of water. Above was a hole in the ceiling. Balor looked at the water and then he looked the hole. Water. Hole. Water. Hole. Water. Hole. That was rainwater and this was hole was how the archives got their drinking water.

Balor walked over to the water and took a sip from it. It was good but only reminded him how hungry he was.

Balor walked into a room. There was just a bed. He then walked into another room. Again just a bed! He then walked into another room. The walls had beautiful murals! Works of art! And the floor! It was made out of precious stones! What sort of a room was this? In the room was a stylized table and chairs. It must have been an eating area.

Balor then left the room and was in a beautiful garden. Fruit! Vegetables! Flowers! It must have been like how the world had been at the beginning! It was silent peaceful it was nice out here. Palm tress! Grapes! A pool of water where fish swam! He could stay here forever!

Too bad he couldn't.

Balor walked into a room filled with books. It seemed like every book in the world could have been in here somewhere! Immediately, Balor started to look for a book about Mount Dunkan.


	6. Chapter 6

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**The End of the World**

Balor quickly looked for a book about Mount Dunkan. He picked book after book from the shelves to find what he was looking for. There just had to be a book about Mount Dunkan. Then he found one!

He flipped through the pages and then found something that was not of any use.

_Mount Dunkan has never erupted. It has been peaceful for a millennia and is no danger to Kawdor. Many believe it to be a danger but those people are rather insane._

Balor let out a sigh. Clearly whoever wrote this book was wrong. He looked at the name of the author.

_Lodoviko the Discontented_

If that name didn't say wrong then Balor wasn't sure what did. He walked out to the garden and looked up at the sky. It looked like it was about noon. It looked so beautiful!

Then a great sound came out of nowhere! It was like the crashing together of two gigantic waves! It was deafening! Mount Dunkan was erupting!


	7. Chapter 7

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**Death from Above**

The force of the eruption was so great that Balor fell onto his back. The ground was trembling as if a behemoth was walking across Third Earth. The sound of the ground trembling was right against Balor's ear! It was like having a drum drummed right against his ear!

The entire archives were shaking. The place was crashing down around him! The water from the pond splashed onto him! Was he to be crushed or drowned?

Then the ground split apart! Balor quickly jumped to the other side. He then looked up as a cloud of ash and burning rock started to come down from the volcano.

Kawdor was going to be buried completely! That's why no one could ever find this place. The volcano had entirely buried the city!

This was a disaster and Balor was stuck in the middle of it! He had to forget about being hungry. If he didn't get out of here quick he'd be dead! Once Balor got out of the archives it had gotten dark. A cloud black as obsidian was covering the sun.

This seemed apocalyptic! No wonder those gossiping old women were so convinced the world was coming to an end. How could this situation get any worse?

Then the ground started to quake even harder. This caused pieces of the ceilings of the buildings to come crashing down. It was worse if the building had a window!

That was how it could have gotten worse.

Balor quickly took cover beneath a cart. With all of this failing rock he could have gotten a head injury! What was he to do? He couldn't stay here beneath the cart and wait for the dust cloud to get him!

Balor looked down at the vest Makbeth had given him. That gave him an idea! He took off the vest, turned it into a turban and then placed it on his hand. Now he was ready to go out there!

And with that Balor ran out into the dark, burning streets. It was a life or death choice and Balor chose life!


	8. Chapter 8

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**A Living Nightmare**

Fire! Rocks! Ash! This was nightmarish! How could a place of such beauty turn into a place of such fear and panic? Simple. Just add a volcano. That was all that was required.

The air was hot, filled with dust and the smell of a rotting carcass was filling Balor's nose. For Balor getting through the streets was a difficulty. They were packed with people trying to get escape certain death! People who were shopping were fleeing! Warriors who protected the city were retreating from an unbeatable enemy! Gladiators were escaping from death! Merchants were running to keep from ending up like what they had been selling! Everyone was running!

Buildings were collapsing! Carts were now rolling around.

And Balor had frozen up. How was he ever to find a way out of here?

He then saw the Hall of Heroes. He could go through there! Balor jumped over the heads of some of the running people and only barely managed to avoid being hit by falling debris.

Balor had moved quickly while the Hall of Heroes was falling. By the time he got through it, the hall had crumbled to pieces. By the time Balor was safe, he looked up at Mount Dunkan. There was a cloud the color of cat blood above it and the volcano itself was burning like a forge! It caused Balor to shiver in fear.

It just seemed like he kept getting closer instead of farther away from Mount Dunkan. It seemed like it was drawing him towards it. The ground was trembling even harder and the volcano was looking as black as Evabon blood.

This was a nightmare and on top of it all the fumes that smelled like rotting carcass was choking Balor. Balor started to blink. He was starting to have difficulty seeing.

As Balor blindly walked around he suddenly fell into a pit. Unsure of how high the walls of the pit were Balor just sat where he had fallen. So this was how it ended.


	9. Chapter 9

**Welcome back everyone. Something I haven't done in a while is mentally casting voices for my characters. Today I return to that! Picture Cam Clarke as the voice of Alkaeus! Enjoy and review.**

**The Strongest Evabon in the World**

Balor lay where he had fallen. Blinded and choking on the fumes, all he could do was lie there. The ash was starting to pile up, trapping him beneath it. He then felt pebbles fall on top of him.

Terrific.

He was blinded, choking on the fumes, and there was ash and pebbles piling up on him. Was this how it was to end for the young son of Pwyll? To be buried alive?

There was no use trying to get out. He was stuck. The only thing left to do was to wait… Wait! There was something Balor could do!

If Balor remembered correctly Alkaeus had saved some people from certain death the day of Mount Dunkan's eruption. This was the day of Mount Dunkan's eruption. So where was Alkaeus?

Then a great hand fastened itself around Balor and lifted him up out of the pit. The hand then placed Balor down on soft grass. "On your feet, boy! Better to die an old warrior than a young child, or better yet not at all."

Balor coughed and tried to see but alas he could not. "Alkaeus?"

"The same! Now get to safety! Get far from this mountain of death!"

Balor coughed again! "But I can't see anything!" Only then did Balor realize that Alkaeus had already left to help others. He was once again alone… Alone to die.


	10. Chapter 10

**Welcome back everyone. Here is the end of this story. The Red Star will actually be featured in another story that I'll be writing alongside "The Tablelands." Enjoy and review.**

**A Lost City Found**

Balor's eyes opened and he saw the rising sun greeting him. Once again he was on the hill he had been lying on when looking at the Red Star. It must have been a dream, just a dream.

He looked at his right arm and to his surprise the bracer that he had been given was right there! Balor then touched his head and there was the vest he had turned into a turban.

As he removed the vest from his head and looked at it in wonderment, confusion filled Balor's head. What had happened? What had he been through? Was this some sort of cosmic joke? But it couldn't have been and it couldn't have been a lesson either since Balor had always respected Alkaeus who had died long before Balor's birth.

When Balor walked into the Valley of the Tombs Gard looked at him with suspicious eyes. "Something happen last night, young shaman?"

"I'm not sure, old warrior." Balor put a hand on his chin. He truly was confused. "I think the Red Star sent me back to the last day of Kawdor."

Gard held a map to Balor's face. On the map were Mount Dunkan but not Kawdor. "You see this? On the map is the mindless monstrosity that destroyed that great city you were sent back to." He let out a breath. "Kawdor was been wiped clean off the face of Third Earth and yet for some reason Mount Dunkan has gotten smaller. How is that for logic?"

At that moment, Balor's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

"I said that Kawdor has been wiped clean off the face of Third Earth, Balor, you know this."

"No, the last part!"

"Mount Dunkan has gotten smaller. Why?"

Balor then realized why he had been sent back. He realized why he had almost been buried. "Gard, it's not gone! Kawdor's been buried under ash, dust and rock!" Balor then looked at the one he was descended from. "I know how to find it!"

Gard gave a smile. He'd get a couple dozen tolacs and some digging equipment.

They headed for Mount Dunkan and then found Kawdor. That was not all they found. In time lost Kawdor were casts of unlucky souls who didn't make it.

**The End**


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